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Umno can gather without permit while PR have to get a permit before they are allowed to gather.

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Stanley,

Your letter to Tony Pua is full of good intentions. But we must realise that CHANGE itself does not come about as a resultant factor of a single approach or non-approach.

It is a combination of approaches. Sometimes the approach like you said is to wait for the next elections, sometimes it can be speeded up through democratic or undemocratic ways but we have to agree that the momentum for CHANGE must not be lost in any event! In fact, it is always the good combination of factors that will effect CHANGE!

Somewhere along the way, although nobody wishes it, some sacrifices have to be made by someone and all. Otherwise, we will not have people like RPK, Zaid Ibrahim and all the other good Malaysians continuously fighting for the good Malaysian cause.

Remember, a bucket of water may not be enough to put out the political flames created by UMNO over the years but I believe 10-25 million buckets will. What we have now after March 08 is not mere noise but the political will of the people to get things right for this country. As they say, the window of opportunity for change has opened. For those who have been committed to this noble cause in a consistent way, in whatever way, it is earnestly hope that positive changes will come by soon. Having hope, a say, and taking some appropriate actions as concerned citizens or peoples' representatives is certainly better than not having any.....we just got to keep working on it till it happens, brother....rgds

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Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the sixteenth President of the United States. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War..Before becoming the first Republican elected to the Presidency, Lincoln was a lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, a member of the United States House of Representatives, and an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Senate.

As an outspoken opponent of the expansion of slavery in the United States. During his time in office, he contributed to the effort to preserve the United States by leading the defeat of the secessionist Confederate States of America in the American Civil War. He introduced measures that resulted in the abolition of slavery, issuing his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and promoting the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which passed Congress before Lincoln's death and was ratified by the states later in 1865.

His assassination in 1865 was the first presidential assassination in U.S. history and made him a martyr for the ideal of national unity. Lincoln has been consistently ranked by scholars as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents.

When I read today that Obama and McCain are meeting on cooperation efforts, I think of the superficial and self-worshipping UMNO, who refuses to cooperate with State govt and even withdraw projects and funds.

We MUST abolish discrimation and abuse of power. We must abolish UMNO. UMNO is a symbol of evil, racism, lawlessness. UMNO only looks good to their own members, there is a separate little economy within the UMNO pigs.

Yes, MPs must balance between war of words and actions. It is a thin line esp in Malaysia where the police and UMNO can arrest at wimp. Hopefully the next GE all will change.

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When the ruling party is always fabricating stuff to justify their own actions but does the opposite for the opposition parties NO MATTER WHAT, then HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM.
Indeed, Malaysia has a big problem when the rakyat is treated as nothing but pawns for the ruling party to stay in power.
I have the highest respect for the most opposition leaders who have suffered much personally, socially and economically. But they continue the good fight and we must offer them every support to them until a true democratic system emerges.

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Candlelight's vigil is not illegal assembly, it is merely a small gathering to exchange views on our country political scenario, a small piece of candle will not burn up a big Padang infront of Amcorp mall P.J, the Police is over reacting, just wants to show the People they 'Decide our Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Expression in our country', the acts as if we are living in the Military rule country, and their action justify what the People's claim 'There is no JUSTICE in Malaysia!!!'

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We do not live in an ideal world, especially in Malaysia. Most of the existing laws were broken, not by the people, but by the BN people themselves. When you face with such situation, the bottom line is where is my conscience, and how do I take action to set things right? A right movement was started usually by some people who couldn't live with injustice around them. I remember reading about a black woman in the 60's who chose to disobey the norm by sitting on the seat reserved for the whites in the bus. Her little action triggered the famous right movement that changed the US history.

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...Lincoln was willing to accept slavery in order to save the Union. However, he was against imperialism - his opposition to the war against Mexico was a big factor in his decision to retire temporarily from politics after his first congressional term.

It was, incidentally, the Mexican war that provoked the civil disobedience of Thoreau, who insisted that morality was a necessary component of any just law. Martin Luther King Jr thus pronounced two kinds of laws; unjust laws and the "higher" law given by God, or that which is of human conscience. In a previous posting on the Social Contract, I talked about the original Constitution of Nature as opposed to the Constitution of the State, in which the former takes precedence over the latter. What God or Nature gives us no man nor his government has the right to take away without overwhelmingly good reason. We know that the ISA is an arbitrary law imposed by a government that has long been propped up through undemocratic means, such as the gag on free speech, the exclusive control of the nation's mass media, the denial of large members of voting rights of people through the issuance of red ICs, etc. All this cannot be rectified if the people were to be denied their basic rights of free speech, association and assembly. The call to wait for the next election, or plead for permission to exercise one's basic right of assembly from an unjust government, is naive. The struggle for justice cannot wait, for as Thoreau pointed out, delay in fighting an injustice simply perpetuates that injustice.

LChuah

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'Time will tell'.. Ali Cordoba predicts the political future of Malaysia as though he is predicting World futures. He may be right, he may be wrong but I wonder how many times one can get it right there?

Anyway, I think what many of us are trying to put forward here is that the Malaysian people have suffered enough of the 51 years, perhaps 39 (51-12 before 1969) of UMNO's blatant misrule, corruption, racism, others (you can continue to name them) so much so the people now just want CHANGE to take place, no matter whether it comes from PKR or others, just to see what better conditions can CHANGE bring us all. Given so many years as the ruling party, UMNO has failed the Malaysian test badly.

I would consider that we have all got it right if all Malaysians, particularly from the UMNO breed, are compelled to turn away from its racist mould and become more truly Malaysian in outlook and practice.

A nation, just like a person, cannot live and progress without her soul. For Malaysia, all Malaysians are her soul! UMNO and its policies alone won't do because racism is not the nation’s soul!

Is the above disagreeable, Ali Cordoba?

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Stanley Teoh is a pessimistic defeatist who wants to acknowledge the validity of draconian and undemocratic laws such as that banning public assembly which is guaranteed and enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution and therefore such a draconian stifling and muzzling Act should be deemed Unconstitutional and we should not give it any credence by applying for a police permit !

Freedom of speech and freedom to assemble peacefully is a democratic right that no Govt. can subvert or change. When is DSAI taking over the Govt.?? He is too quiet and that tells me he is not going to make it happen anytime soon. The 13th GE ?? If we don't keep the pressure up on this Barisan Najis Govt. do you think the 13th GE will be fair and clean ??!! We won't have a hope in winning !

RPK may not have been released as a direct result of the candlelight vigils, but I am sure the vigils bring his plight and many other to the minds of the people, including Judges who make decisions in his case, and keep them in their minds, so indirectly they help to remind all Malaysians of our conscience and that includes fair-minded Judges, too.

Planting weapons by the dirty Anjing police to incriminate the protesters is nothing new. If that will stop us from our peaceful assembly to protest, there is not much future for Malaysia or Malaysians. Better seek a new place to migrate to and start over as a "pendatang" again. I don't intend to do that and abandon my country. I choose to take back my country from these DESPOTS and I shall be very vocal about it !!

See all you folks tomorrow at the car park in front of the Civic Centre, PJ !!

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Stanley Teoh is right. In a civilised society the law is the law and must be respected at all times.

But Malaysia is NOT a civilised society in its approach to the law. Malaysians will flout the law whenever possible because they know that on the whole the policers of Malaysia's laws are incompetent and ineffective

What is needed in this and many other situations that arise in this fragile and unstable society is COMMONSENSE

The sort of commonsense that would allow all applications for Permits to Gather to be granted. UNLESS there was clear evidence that significant damage to persons or property was probable

The sort of commonsense that would induce the police to protect the CITIZENS rather than the GOVERNMENT and their fragile egos

The sort of commonsense which would avoid the use of VIOLENCE and FEAR against the people who pay their salaries

The Malaysian police force is cowardly and without ethical direction... Its no wonder they behave as they do

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it is also difficult for me to support or not support tony pua for being in jail most of the time... as he would lose his job in parliament...

However, I will spent my time lashing and exposing and campaigning to get rid of BN and UMNO from this country...

The best way to change unjust law in Malaysia is to depose umno....SO ALL GOOD CITIZENS OF MALAZUTLAND MUST FIND A WAY TO GET RID OF UMNO....

I disagree with removing ISA, instead we should maintain ISA only to arrest corrupted politicians...!!!

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Stanley, just like the most of us, would accept everything at face value and do not question if what we believe to be true is indeed true. I have also, for many years, taken for granted that what the media had presented was true and accurate and that gathering of more than 3 or 4 would be considered as illegal under the police act of 1967. At the back of my mind after reading stanley's letter to tony pua was the niggling suspicion that what was obvious wasn't really so obvious and part of it was the utter nonsensical pronouncements by our men in blue every time they caused unneccesary disturbance to the peace and harmony in the community. They are a threat to the security of the nation.

I decided to do a bit of digging around and true enough our rights had been violated time and time again because we believe what the media told us. For a very good discussion on why the police had acted illegally all these years in breaking up non-violent and peaceful demonstration, which is allowed under our constitution under article 10(2), please refer to :

http://blawg.joshua3.com/?p=5

Go to the comment section.

As long as the police are not challenged in the court of law they will continue to exercise their illegitimate powers over the rakyat. Those who had been arrested - either recently or in the past - should file a class-action suit against the PDRM to have their powers tested in the court of law.

I feel bad because for so many years now I had been duped and so do many others.

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Dear Stanley. What law? An unjust law is not law at all! If we don't get a little bit more aggresive ie 'Tunjuk Perasaan' or candlelight vigil, we will be bullied FOR EVER!

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